Many know Bret Lockett from his time spent in the NFL playing with the New England Patriots and the New York Jets, while the business community knows Bret as a serial entrepreneur and investor. He knew that his NFL career couldn’t last forever and wanted some reassurance for when that day came.
“I started my entrepreneurial journey while I was playing in the NFL. During my career, I began to come across business opportunities off the field. Understanding that the NFL wasn’t forever, I began investing, advising, and raising capital for startups.” Bret explains.
Investing in a winning business is about as difficult as making it into the NFL, and then winning the Super Bowl itself. Bret discovered this after investing in his first two companies. They say some people learn from experience while others learn from others. Inexperienced, Bret learned the hard way. His first two investments both went south within a couple of years. Though these were big losses, Bret took his lumps on the chin and learned from mistakes, which has ultimately led to his success today.
“One of the first companies I worked with was Israel based technology company, Mobli. Mobli was a social media video, and photo-sharing app directly competing with Vine and Instagram. Shortly after, I invested in an Orlando based transportation company called GroundFlights. Both companies had their fair share of challenges over the coming years. GroundFlights, an executive transportation company shut down operations due to a lack of funding amongst other prominent challenges. Mobli eventually followed suit in 2016, mainly due to being unable to build a reliable user base. As much as I love to win, I hate to lose but the lessons I learned working with these two companies were invaluable. Moving on I took these experiences and lessons and created a mandate for how to evaluate companies, build successful management teams, and how to course-correct throughout the life of the business.” Bret shares.
Taking these lessons to heart coupled with the resiliency of an NFL defensive back, Bret didn’t allow these upsets to deter him from his entrepreneurial journey. Since then he has started two companies: M2Jets, a full-service private aviation company, and a boutique advisory and consulting firm, Newport Ventures Group.
“After working in the money management business, I realized that I was more effective in guiding the business rather than managing personal assets. Also, I was extremely passionate about working with executives and their teams. After several years of managing my client’s assets, I realized that my clients depended on me for my business advice, not just financial. Most times our quarterly meetings would shift from discussing financial plans to diving into business strategy. Instead of discussing stock options or portfolio strategies, we’d discuss operation tactics and how to improve the overall business. Slowly but surely I started to realize my clients loved my advice but without me working with them, there was no way for me to help them implement anything we discussed.” Bret says.
Now, Bret consults and advises businesses, and coaches other entrepreneurs. He believes in building people first before the company. People look to him for advice, as they always have, and he loves being there to guide them.. For those attempting to start their own business, Bret recommends that they figure out what kind of business they want to start before they start it.
“My number one piece of advice is to figure out what kind of business you want to start and secondly, what kind of business you want to have. Understanding that 99% of businesses fail, so why start a small business with a glass ceiling that can’t help you create the lifestyle you want for you and your family. Most people, not just in business aim way too low. Understanding the risk to winning in business is slim so why swing for anything less than a home run?” advises Bret.
Bret aims to inspire and encourage everyone he works with and is excited about future opportunities he is working on. As a consultant, Bret focuses on prioritizing his businesses and trying to make himself as useful to his customers as possible. For him, it is not about being a true consultant, but being able to deliver results beyond the business.
“I am not a true consultant. My resume speaks for itself. I am a serial entrepreneur making the best decisions I possibly can to help as many people as possible.” Bret states.
